apologies

Dear Blog,
I realize that I have been a bit distant as of late, but I hope you have not been feeling the tinge of resentment toward me.  Good things have been happening! Good things that perhaps are too new and too exciting for me to share as of yet. You must admit that you cannot keep nary even a tiny secret, my old friend. Be assured, however, that though my attentions that have been focused elsewhere, my affection for you is not lacking nor waning.

I am happy to report that I have established a weekly meeting with my writing partner.  Progress is occurring, albeit slowly and uncertainly.  Unfortunately, it means that any time I would normally spend writing to you is being spent writing to that end.  I hope to share with you soon news of great progress! 

Until then my friend,
Nathan

domo arigato

Painting finished!



The original

Sketching ideas

Pencil it in

Acyrlic paints and brushes from Amazon

Base coat in brown

Fill in the mouth and add eyes

Looking pretty good at this point, nice scale

Add teeth and eye reflections

A bit of shadowing

Finished!

On our living room wall

Adds some character

Messing around
Slideshow

paint update

After a couple hours spent reacquainting myself with Photoshop, trying to create a Godzilla stencil.  It was proving difficult and complicated, so I decided to go another route.  The new plan is to paint Domo-kun the Japanese poop monster coming out of the water.  Much easier to draw haha.  I just finished laying down the main body in acrylic.  Stay tuned for a full post when completed.  Looks like it might turn out pretty awesome...

paint

I have a new idea.  Okay, it's not entirely a new idea. It's been done before. The idea is to take an old/bad/thrift store painting and paint over it to make it more interesting.

I have a friend who just took up painting and another friend who is getting rid of some old stuff.  Motive and opportunity.  Here's what we got.  An old print of "Golden Surf" by Robert Wood.

And here's a quick photoshop of what I want to do with it:

Not sure about the laser eyes at this point, it is still an idea in progress.  Plus, I don't know how to paint. Yes, this could turn out badly.  Stay tuned folks...

weekend project

I spent the weekend at my parents' house to avoid the much anticipated Carmageddon closure of the 405.  Turned out to be a beautiful weekend to spend on the freeways.  Good job Los Angeles.

 On the upside, I got to work on a couple car projects I'd been thinking about for a few weeks.  First, replaced the weak "meep meep" stock horn with one I had kept off the BMW.  Look how much better made the BMW horn on the right looks.  I'm not sure how much louder it is, but the tone is noticeably more refined.  I have been looking for more opportunities to honk.

The other project I decided to tackle last minute was a paint job for my wheels.  They are now flat black.  Painted with barbeque grill paint from Walmart.  Pretty quick and dirty job, only used about $3 worth of paint.  Looks pretty good and does a great job of hiding all the curb rash and chipped paint.  I think I like the look enough that if it starts coming off, I might visit a powdercoater.

book project

I have been meeting a friend for lunch every Thursday for the last three and a half years. He worked down the street from me in El Segundo so it was a short drive and a long lunch once a week. It was a great time, something consistent that I needed through the ups and downs of the last few years. Now that I work fifty some miles from El Segundo, those lunches are no longer possible. They will be missed.

I have offered to help him with a stalled book project that he has been working on for a handful of years. Its working title is "When God is Not Enough" and it is written for Christians who have experienced God in a visceral way, but have for whatever reason lost a part of that intimate connection. For those who have trouble reconciling what they see in the church with what they experience in the world. For those who are disillusioned, dissapointed, and frustrated with God, but not enough to forget Him. In other words, right up my alley.

Hopefully, this will keep the friendship alive and help me work through some of my lingering issues. I enjoy writing, but I have trouble writing more than a blog entry at a time, so this will be a challenge.  Also trying to figure out how dual authorship works, specifically when the authors are approaching the subject from different angles. A dialog perhaps, or is that off-putting? I hope our styles compliment each other.

Suggestions and stories welcome, readers.

custom table finished

Took some time to paint and add finishing touches to the table I designed. Turned out really good! The black textured paint came out very even and really highlights the engine. Also added some felt pads and plastic end caps to finish everything off. Took a time lapse video of the painting part. Fun but messy project. I really wish I had a garage to work in.

inheritance

A few weeks ago I got an email from the editor of INHERITANCE magazine. It is published by a local church and is aimed at the Asian-American Christian community. A friend who's wife is a contributor recommended my music for a compilation CD they were putting together showcasing Asian American artists. This was pretty flattering, as I came "highly recommended." I haven't considered these recordings as anything more than a personal project, but it seemed like a glowing opportunity to share.

I submitted "There is Time" and a short blurb about the inspiration behind it. I had to fill out an artist's release form and everything. How nice and official. A few weeks later, here we are and I just logged into Facebook to see that the CD has been released. Exciting! There are nine tracks on the CD, including one from my high school friend Kevin Yap. The cover was also designed by a college friend. What a small world. Anyway, it is up for download at INHERITANCE's website.

Introduction and Blurb
Download Link

I haven't listened to it yet. I'm kind of afraid that the other tracks will sound way better than mine. Still working on the musical self-confidence.

If you haven't heard the rest of the CD yet, please drop by my soundcloud.

custom dining table build

My BMW 525i died recently and I pulled the engine apart to see what was wrong with it. It ended up not being worth it to fix, but I'm to sentimental to just junk everything. Plus I've been using a folding card table as a dining table. This is the top half of the engine, the head.


Set to work doing some CAD in Google Sketchup. Designed a support system for the engine out of 1" square tubing and sized a glass top. I use Pro/Engineer at work and found Sketchup hard to get used to. Seems pretty easy for non-engineers to pickup though. Plus it's free!


Found a local metal supplier with 1" square tubing. This is 16 gauge mild steel. They sell them in 20' lengths and I had them cut it to length. I needed 8 pieces at 26" lengths for the sides and 3 pieces at 36" lengths for the crossbars.
Cost: $50 including labor


This is the hard part. Welded the raw materials together per design. I have a Lincoln MIG welder from previous projects that is much neglected. It was challenging to get the angles square without a flat work surface. This was done on my balcony. I'm also a pretty crappy welder. The supports warped a bit because I didn't think to manage the heat.


Drilled holes in the center section, using the existing head bolt holes for guides. I wanted to use the original head bolts to secure the head to the frame, but they are just barely too short. The weight of the head adds to the stability of the frame nicely.


The original glass supplier I found is all the way downtown, and only opens while I am at work. Luckily, I found that IKEA sells a glass table top nearly the same size. It's a bit narrower, but it was also $30 cheaper. They didn't have plain clear glass either, so I chose one that had "Love" etched in it in all different languages. I guess it kind of fits the theme.
Cost: $80


I'm considering painting the frame black to give it a bit more contrast. I'm also concerned with the steel rusting. Might be okay because its indoors with low humidity. I also need to source plastic caps for the open ends. They're kinda sharp.


Glass is difficult to photograph well.


I am fairly pleased with how this project turned out. Need to practice welding though.

Costs:
Engine Head: Free
Steel Tubing: $50
Glass Top: $80

A few more photos here.